Kinda interested what PE'ers think....
Kinda interested what PE'ers think....
I love the former. Hopefully, you don't have to choose!
To Watch the Storms is great album, quite on a par with Voyage of the Acolute and Please don't Touch. Wild Orchids I found unimpressive.
'To Watch The Storms' I thought was his best since 'Spectral Mornings'. 'Wild Orchids' has some good stuff on it, but wasn't nearly on that level. Nor was 'Out of the Tunnel's Mouth' or the following one, I thought. 'Storms' was great. The others are merely good.
Yeah that's my feeling as well. Every one of his albums has some keeper/classic tunes (Wild Orchids had to grow on me - and it did) but Storms was just magical right out of the gate. YMMV....Originally Posted by bill g
Love them both. Do I need to choose?
To Watch the Storms by far for me. Wild Orchids just doesn't have much that I find appealing except She Moves in Memories. But To Watch the Storms is full of great pieces. I don't think I can elevate it to the level of his first three but its probably the best he's done outside of those.
I'll throw in a defense of Wild Orchids.
It's really a grab-bag of an album, with some pretty diverse styles (it kind of reminds me of the "Road Salt" albums from Pain of Salvation in a weird way). And, as is usually the case with grab-bag albums, there will be some stuff you like and some stuff you don't. But in totality, I think it's worthwhile.
Or Darktown?
Darktown to me, is the best Post Defector Album....
I would rank these as my favorite Hackett solo albums:
Out of the tunnels mouth
To watch the storms
Darktown
Guitar Noir
Yes , I'm a latter day Hackett fan.
Those are definitely the best four of the post-80s Hackett albums (i.e. 1990s and since). However, I don't personally put 'Darktown' quite as high up there as the other three on that list. Also, the first four albums from 'Voyage of the Acolyte' up to 'Defector' are pretty much essential masterpieces.
My absolute favourite Hackett albums are 'Please Don't Touch', 'Spectral Mornings', 'Guitar Noir' and 'To Watch the Storms'.
On the other hand, I think 'Wild Orchids' is one of his weakest rock albums (I reckon the other weak albums are 'Cured' and 'Feedback 86', although both of those feature fantastic tracks). But my least favourite Hackett albums tend to be the pseudo-classical outings. Lovely playing, but over-produced reverb-soaked ramblings, imho.
I might rank them (top ten) something like this:
Voyage of the Acolyte
Spectral Mornings
To Watch The Storms
Defector
Momentum
Darktown
Guitar Noir
Please Don't Touch
Wild Orchids
Out of the Tunnels Mouth
I would probably go with "Storms", but I think they are both very good albums.
TWTS, but I quite enjoy both.
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I'd have to say TWTS but count me in with the group who likes both albums a lot. Apart from a short string of albums in the 80s and the Blues album, I've honestly liked everything Steve's done.
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I vote for the former as well.
TWTS (if I had to choose, both quite good.)
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What is there not to like about Wild Orchids?
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